


Gotham-Punk

by Kiki_Delivers08



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Under the Red Hood
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:00:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23852695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiki_Delivers08/pseuds/Kiki_Delivers08
Summary: This work has elements of AU travel, magic, mayham, some swears (f-bombs will drop), and general flirtations.  There will be action, some may be graphic.Cyber-Punk meets magic in this thrilling tale.  It follows the daily life activities of a very competent Technomance and Alchemistic named Brigitte who knows her magic inside and out.  One day, when she was teaching her class on the common properties and uses for metallurgy combined with alchemistic formulations, a miss-calculation from one of her student led to a portal appearing in the center of the classroom and sucked our poor protagonist into and alternate universe.  One where the city was dark and gloomy, and it seemed like every ten seconds some no good miscreant was trying to either cause havoc or murder poor pedestrians.Having no idea where or even when she is, and her magic abilities are not in the least bit helpful, she is attacked in the alley where she wound up from the portal.  Just before injuries insue, she is rescued by a tall, imposing man wearing a red biker helmet and combat armor under a dingy leather jacket.Is this new fellow friend, or foe?  And where the hell did this portal take her?
Comments: 1





	Gotham-Punk

I knew it was morning the moment I could feel the sunlight filtering through the blinds hit my eyelids. I peeked at the clock displayed on the wall: May 20, 2180, 6:23 a.m. Exactly 22 minutes before my alarm was supposed to wake me. Grumbling as I rolled out of bed, my A.I. appeared in holo-form to greet me. It looked very much like a manservant from the late 19th century, which was a much preferred look to the female counter-part which was modeled after a skimpy dressed French maid.  


“Good morning madam, shall I set the coffee and start your shower for you?” the digital manservant asked.  


“Morning Ward, yeah coffee would be great, also, tell me my schedule for today and the weather forecast,” I said as I took my clothes off while on the way to the bathroom where I could hear the shower turn on.  


“Of course madam. Today you have class from 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., then another one at 12:15 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. due to the practice session for that time, and finally a class at 4:30 a.m. to 5:45 a.m. The forecast is set at 23ºC/73ºF starting at 7:22 a.m. and clear skies tonight until sunrise, which is perfect for the astrology class tomorrow morning, the temperature will drop to 16ºC/61ºF. Tomorrow may have scattered showers and fog lasting until 4 p.m. Is there anything else you wish for me to do?” Ward, short for Steward, asked after full-filling my request.  


“No, that's all I needed to know. Thanks Ward,” I dismissed him as I stepped out of the shower and dried off the water. His holo-form dissolved into specks of light. I went to the window and opened the blinds a bit. “Ward, turn the window opacity to my preferred setting.” The glass cleared and I looked at the scenery outside.  


The sunrise cast all the windows of the neighboring skyscrapers in bright pinks and light oranges. Neon signs were slowly being shut off one by one and the large holo-ads changed to their day-view program. One of the shorter building next to mine has a roof-top garden that the local Herbalist runs for the community. I could see a dark figure watering the plants and casting bug protection charms on the entire plot. The light shining from the charm was vaguely green-blue from what I could see. I looked at my own plants I had hanging from my ceiling and scattered throughout my living spaces, wondering if I should by some charmed plant food. There was a knock coming from the living room window.  


“Madam, it appears you have a delivery,” Ward informed me.  


“Oh yeah, my mythril finally came,” I exclaimed. I wrapped my towel tighter around my body and walked to receive my package. I opened the window and placed my hands under the package for the drone to release its little claws. A holo display lit up in front of me so I could sign the delivery slip. After I finished, the drone dipped a little then whirred off to go do more deliveries. I opened the little box and emptied the contents into my bag that would go with me to school. I went back to my room to get dressed.  


“Would you like one of your favorite outfits, madam?” Ward asked as he lit my closet for me as I opened the doors.  


“Sure, lets cycle through my top ten first,” I said while placing my towel on its rack, then proceeded to put on my undergarments and sheer, spotted pantyhose. “Add in the new skirt I just bought on the list of favorite bottoms.”  


“Yes, madam. I've also taken the liberty to add the new set of socks to the list,” Ward said as the mirror on the inside of one closet door shimmered and worked as a clothing overlay as I stood in front of it and let the tops and bottoms cycle by slowly.  


“That terracotta cami and sheer black top with the new skirt, and then the white knit above-knee socks looks good,” I said, picking the items off their hangers. “Save this combo as #2.”  


“Yes madam, all others have been shifted down the list to accommodate the new addition,” Ward said as the list on the screen rearranged itself to show the change was made.  


After getting dressed I went to my desk to retrieve my mana rings and placed them on my corresponding finger placements. Each ring serves its purpose when I do my spell work and the placements are very specific. I focused on my left hand and a bright teal glow morphed into a circle-like array with numerals and alchemic symbols. Then I focused on my right hand and shifted the left array to a multi-tiered construct. I could feel one of my rings strobe in my mind, fortunately I now have new mythril to make a replacement. I eased the focus away from the rings to cancel the array altogether.  


“Madam, I have prepared breakfast,” Ward informed me. I grabbed my coat off the back of my desk chair and sat at my kitchen counter to eat. The box of grains lit up with animations of the cereals' mascot eating a bowl-full of what was also in my bowl.  


I washed and rinsed my dishes as the counter opened up and lowered the box back into place. I walked to the door and put my ankle bootlets on, grabbed my wrist com-link so Ward could help at school through the interface set up on campus, pulled my arms through my coat, and grabbed my bag on my way out the door and into the fray of morning commute. "Lock home door." I heard the locks slide and click into place.  


"The subway is delayed due to and electrical issue, might I suggest the mono-cycle?" Ward spoke from my wrist-comm. I had forgotten to take the ear chip from the comm so anyone around could now hear Ward, if they bothered to listen. Everyone I saw was either using a Virtu-Gear headset or walking brusquely towards work. I placed the ear piece into place behind my ear on the temporal bone so I could now hear Ward in my head through the vibrations the chip sent to my inner ear. I tapped it twice to lower the volume, it was still far too early to have loud noises be in my head versus stimulus from the rest of the world.  


"That sounds like a good idea, start him up for me Ward," I commanded as I turned the corner to head towards the parking structure. The garage door opened up and the parking carousel rotated until landing on my mono-bike, which was on and purring, ready for me to set off on my commute. I fastened my helmet on and swung my leg over the seat and backed up to disengage the kick-stand. The screen over the handle-bars lit up to display an A.R. overlay of the street, it showed which routes would be the fastest in the top corner on a mini-map of the surrounding area. "I think Route B seems the best option, run a quick diagnostic on all possible hindrances and then I'll go."  


"Of course madam, please allow for changes to commonsense," Ward stated as the program ran its' course, a few seconds later and the route blinked onto the A.R. overlay showing me I had to get on the street and head left. I walked the mono-bike while seated out of the garage and headed towards my destination.  


The city in the early hours are some of my favorite moments. The food stalls waft delicious smells into the air, drones whir and buzz around as they deliver various things all over, the local coffee shops are teeming with life as the working stiffs wait in line to grab their to-go orders, and the sky slowly fades to blue while the artificial weather commands dictate what kind of clouds we'll have for the day (there's a weekly vote to the station and the favorite wins for the week). After about an hours worth of driving, I arrived at the campus and found my seldom used parking spot up front with the rest of the faculty mono-cycles. Most of the staff rode cycles because they are provided to us so we can avoid being late to class. Mine was a present from my uncle when I landed the job, so most of my colleagues think of me as a spoilt rich-kid. Luckily I'm not here to make friends among my peers, I took this job because knowledge is my passion, and having the joy of passing that knowledge into bright, young minds is a bonus. I love my job, and not a lot of thirty-something year olds can say that proudly in this economy.  


I locked my cycle and walked up the short flight of stairs to the main Library branch building. The security scanner above the door did it's once over of me and the doors swung inward to allow me entrance. The front desk was manned by the library's A.I. holo Book, it knew every square inch of the building, inside and out. The archive stacks glowed a somber orange in parts where the majority of checked files had been downloaded from, green was for newly available practical Alchemistic arrays so students could run simulations without the magical effects, and blue was for staff and students who were very close to graduating. "Morning Book, do you have the Metallurgy Applications file by any chance?"  


"Good morning Instructor, the file is ready for download to your wrist-comm," Book answered. I know it's just a program running things, but Book never fails to sound 10,000 % done with running this building.  


"I have received the file, madam," Ward said. The wrist-comm blinked yellow to signify the transfer was done.  


I walked towards the side door that lead to the Administrations portion of the building, the security scanner lit me up again, settled on my wrist-comm, and then opened the door for me once it registered my clearance level. The scanners are everywhere and forever vigilant. The violence and mortality rate inside any and all buildings within the cities of the entire world have dropped exponentially. The rise of shootings during the early 2000's was more than just a wake-up call for world leaders to pull together and save humanity from its self destructive habits. With the evolutionary boom of Artificial Inelegance and Augmented Reality, cyber security, and cybernetic body modifications, we as humans finally overcame most of societal issues such as poverty, unbalanced growth of the super rich, and overall human welfare.  


I spotted another faculty member meandering to whichever class they had to teach head towards the cafe. I lined up behind them and tapped my wrist-comm to glance over my new file.  


"Brrrriiiiggggiiitttee!!!!" a very chipper and overly happy voice rang behind me calling my name.  


I turned to look and saw Instructor Fern Gallows skipping towards me. She considered me a gal pal after I saved her from unwanted advances from a male student in one of her classes. She was much taller than me so when she enveloped me in a hug she rested her chin on my head.  


"Brigitte you are the only one for me! Can we please go and have a girls night out so I can finally repay you for saving me?" she asked using a fake child-like voice to try and guilt me into going. She had been bugging me for two weeks straight since the incident.  


"Could you please let go, I'm next in line to order God's nectar," I said as I tried to pry her arms open so I could move. "And I have a class to prep, I need my hot bean juice."  


"Oh chill, me too. I'm buying so don't worry about the girls night if you're not up for it," she beamed. Fern has an infection smile, I could feel my smile answer hers.  


"Thanks. I'm not one for going to crowded places, even in V.R. its too much for me to handle," I said sheepishly.  
We ordered our coffees and chatted about the new study that was in my file while waiting. Both of us are in the same department and it's nice to talk about academics with a fellow Tenchomancer. Being able to blend technology with magic is a niche study that only about 5% of people who can use magic can even preform, let alone understand enough to teach or be willing to share research among colleagues. We finished our drinks and headed to the Alchemistics building together.  


As we reached the buildings doors, we saw that a few people, students and Instructors, were blocked by the security scanners door access. Everybody seem in a foul mood because of the inconvenience.  


"What's going on? Why's the door not opening?" Fern asked the nearest student.  


"The scanner's on lock-out mode, it won't give us clearance," the guy answered grumpily.  


"Ward, run a diagnostics and notify campus A.I. Hail that there may be a remote hack going on," I commanded Ward while opening the display on my wrist-comm to get an x-ray diagram of the scanner. It showed itself to be in fully functioning order.  


"Madam, there was a blip just now to the right of the power relay on the rear of the building," Ward informed me. As soon as it pointed the blip out, drones had been dispatched to our location to scan the entire area for possible threats.  


"Instructor Rou, I have been notified of the breach via your A.I. This matter will not be handled by campus counter-measures, thank you for your cooperation," Hail chimed in my head. I shut my display off and notified everyone that Hail had everything under control.  


"This building in temporarily locked down for security protocol 572-G93, please return to a safe area immediately," Hail spoke over the scanners speaker. The message repeated and would repeat until the all clear was given. We all dispersed to give the drones room to circle the area to preform their scans. I motioned to Fern to follow me as I send a mass alert to my class about the delay, and letting them know if class would be late or canceled depending on Hail's findings.  


"Well, all we can do is wait until the threat is found and neutralized I guess," Fern said after she sent a similar notice out to her class.  


"Yeah. I hope it's nothing serious. I know they just had an update not too long ago, so it's possible a bit of code is still needing some more work," I stated. The only thing we could do now was sit back at the opposite buildings benches and watch as the drones did their air ballet.


End file.
